Connecting the Dots: Putting Risk, Customer Protection, and Financial Capability in Perspective

• by Graham Wright and Soumya Harsh Pandey
• Feb 17, 2016
• 1 min
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This paper presents the findings on three inter-related concepts – Risks, Customer Protection, and Financial Capability in DFS at both the customer and the agent level.

Risk in Digital Financial Services (DFS) has the potential to derail the financial inclusion agenda. If not managed in time, it can reduce trust, resulting in a vicious cycle of poor uptake of products and services, poor profitability, and thus poor implementation. This paper presents the findings on three inter-related concepts – Risks, Customer Protection, and Financial Capability in DFS at both the customer and the agent level. The vulnerability context in which people operate directly influences the risk profile of the customers as well as the frontline agents. Most of the risks identified in this research were operational in nature and can be resolved relatively easily. However, their expression, in terms of service denials and potential manifestation of fraud, in an environment with limited financial capability and high level of trust of the agents, is potentially dangerous.